Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha expects the upcoming 12th Apec High‐Level Meeting on Health and the Economy to serve as a global forum to discuss medical innovations and measures to strike a balance between public health security and economic recovery.
Running from tomorrow until Friday, and also known as Thailand's first Apec Health Week, the meeting will be attended by more than 150 health ministers and high-level health officials from Apec countries, said government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri yesterday.
Gen Prayut believes the meeting will be fruitful and its outcome will benefit Thailand's ambition to become a regional medical hub, he said.
The meeting, held during a time of global challenges, will serve as a forum for presenting new ideas steering global medicine and the public health sector, with the help of new technology and innovation, he said.
"[Gen Prayut] also believes that with all sides joining hands, a real balance between public health security and economic recovery will likely be achieved," he said.
Meanwhile, the 11th Apec Tourism Ministerial Meeting wrapped up on Friday without a joint statement being issued as some countries were not able to agree on a single paragraph in the draft closing statement, which dealt with "peace and stability", according to a source.
Thailand exercised its right to issue the chair's statement instead, the source said.
However, two important documents were approved during the meeting, according to Tourism and Sports Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn.
The first dealt with the number of proposals regarding Apec's policy on improvements and sustainability in regional tourism, while the other was an updated version version of an Apec handbook on regional tourism, he said.
The outcome of the Apec meeting will lead to improvements and sustainability in regional tourism, which has been heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, he said.
By sustainability, he said, he meant that natural resources will be well protected so they could attract more visitors in years to come.
Also, the promotion of community participation in a country's tourism management will help improve the distribution of tourism income to these communities and their residents alike, he said.
However, a common concern shared at the meeting was still the impact of Covid-19, inflation and high energy prices, which are the main negative factors hindering the recovery of the global tourism industry, he said.
